Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

Two rookies hold share of the lead headed into weekend at Sanderson Farms Championship

Continuous rain and wind made Thursday's first round play all the more interesting for golfers
Mississippi Clarion Ledger

Buy Photo

Norman Xiong hits a fairway shot on the 18th hole on Friday, October 26, 2018, in the second round of the Sanderson Farms Championship at th8 Country Club of Jackson in Jackson, Miss.(Photo: CHRIS TODD/For Clarion Ledger)Buy Photo

Rookie Cameron Champ has some company atop the leaderboard following the second round of play at the Sanderson Farms Championship.

Champ, who carded a 7-under 65 in Thursday’s opening round and held a one-stroke lead headed into Friday, bogeyed his final two holes to drop into a tie with Norman Xiong, another rookie playing on a sponsor’s exemption.

“Today was a real struggle for me,” said Champ, who still shot a 2-under 70. “I really struggled with my ball striking off the tee and missed a ton of fairways. It’s good to know that I can play what I consider an average round and still turn in a score under par. That’s huge.”

Xiong (pronounced Jong), who shot 68 Thursday, started his second round on the 10th hole and made the turn at 3-under after an eagle on the par-5 11th, a bogey on 12 and birdies on 14 and 16. He picked up two more birdies on the front (on holes three and six) to finish with a 5-under round of 67.

The Guam native who won the 2018 Jack Nicklaus Award – given annually to the best college player in the country – made a name for himself with his accurate drives and solid putting at the University of Oregon. On Friday, he only hit six out of 14 fairways, but he chipped in for birdie twice and was a perfect 7-for-7 scrambling around the greens.

“You don’t really expect those, but when they come you take it and build off the momentum,” Xiong said. “They really kind of take off the pressure on a day like this when it’s windy and the pins are not as accessible to where you can play safe off those good breaks.”

He had not made a cut in six previous PGA Tour tournaments. After two rounds, he’s the co-leader in Jackson.

Champ handled the windy conditions again Friday, albeit not as well as Thursday. One day after carding a field-leading 7-under-par 65, the Sacramento, Calif. native and former Texas A&M Aggie shot 2-under (70) to retain a share of the lead going into the weekend.

Buy Photo

Cameron Champ watches his shot from the 18th fairway on Friday, October 26, 2018, in the second round of the Sanderson Farms Championship at the Country Club of Jackson in Jackson, Miss.(Photo: CHRIS TODD, CHRIS TODD)

“I’m used to wind at this point,” Champ said. “But obviously the cold got to me there at the end of the round. I just need to keep playing my game, keep taking aggressive swings and hope for some better weather over the weekend.”

Two more golfers, recent Web.com Tour grad Shawn Stefani and 18-year PGA Tour veteran Jonathan Byrd, sit two strokes back at 8-under. Both turned in back-to-back rounds of 68 on Thursday and Friday.

Six more players are tied for fifth at 7-under, including past champion D.J. Trahan and 26-year-old Fulton, Miss. native Chad Ramey, who played his college golf at Mississippi State.

The cut line ended up at 1-under, which eliminated 61 golfers from the field. Among the notables who didn’t make the cut were past champions Peter Malnati (+2) and Cody Gribble (+3), as well as PGA Tour veteran Retief Goosen (+2) and Jackson native Wilson Furr (+2), who carded a 2-under 70 Friday.

Among the players who just made it were defending champion Ryan Armour and Brandon native Jonathan Randolph.

Play will resume with the third round at 9:25 a.m. Saturday, when the forecast calls for mostly sunny skies and temperatures between 50 and 70 degrees.